A New Life
by CActress123
Summary: Anne has been experimented on by Hydra. After being taken in by the Avengers Anne must learn about her new powers and how to control them. On top of that she has to deal with her senior year in high school. She will adjust to her new life with the help of her knew friends. (not everything will be the same. Ages of some of the characters might change. Im not sure yet though.)
1. Chapter 1: A Change

Chapter 1: A Change

It was silent. There was no noise to be heard in the entire building. Anne assumed that it was night again. It was hard for her to tell. There were no windows in her room. Anne didn't see much outside of her room. The only time she left was when the doctors came or when she was taken to a bathroom to shower. There was no bathroom connected to her room, all she had was a small toilet in the corner of her room. All that was in her room besides the toilet was a bed and a small bookshelf. The bookshelf was filled with books and a small stack had started to pile up next to it. Anne was bored out of her mind, as usual. So she perused through the collection of books looking for one to start rereading. Eventually she decided to start The Hobbit again. Settling in on the floor she started to read. Just as she reached the arrival of the first dwarf she heard a loud bang. Soon after the shouting started. It was coming from a few floors below but it was clear enough for her to know that the base was under attack. Anne rushed to the door and pressed her ear to it hoping to hear something other than the screams and occasional explosions. Sure enough voices and footsteps were soon heard.

"Guard the experiment" was the only sentence that could be made out. There was the sound of feet running away from her room, but Anne knew that there was still at least one agent stationed on the other side of her door.

After about five more minutes all of the noise died down. The only outcome that Anne could think of was that the intruders had been caught. Just as Anne turned to climb into her bed she heard gunshots. Very few sounded and they were followed by a thud then approaching footsteps. Anne's heart started to race. In that moment she knew that the agent set to guard her door was dead and now someone was going to try and get into her room. Thinking quickly she grabbed a few books as weapons, turned off the lights and ran to find a position to attack. Before she knew it the knob was jiggling. Someone was trying to pick the lock. Anne's heart beat quickened in fear and anticipation. Just when she thought she couldn't take the suspense any longer the door opened. There was no one there for a second then someone entered scanning the room. Before they had a chance to spot her Anne threw her copy of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince right at the intruders head. As soon as she saw to book hit it's mark she ran out the door and down the corridor.

There was yelling behind her from the intruder but she did not care to listen. Anne knew that she was being pursued. She had to get away. As she neared the elevators another intruder stepped out from them. This one was a woman. She was short but athletic with dark red hair. Anne skidded then turned around to try to find a different route out of the building only to find her way blocked by the man that had entered her room earlier. He was a little taller than average with dark sandy colored hair, armed with a bow and arrow. As he approached he tried speaking to Anne.

"Stop running, there is no way out. If you just come with us all will be fine."

In that moment Anne realized that she had one choice. The only escape would be out of the window. She had been held in this base for god knows how long and she wanted freedom. Anne slowly backed up against the wall with window trying to act as if she were trapped with no escape as the two unknown people closed in on her. Quickly she turned and opened the window. As this was happening the man shouted "I got this Nat" and fired and arrow. All Anne felt was a sharp pain in her side then a growing dizziness. Looking down she saw an arrow in her side that was injecting her with some sort of liquid. Anne fell in what felt like slow motion, blacking out completely.


	2. Chapter 2: What Next

Chapter 2: What Next

"When do you think she'll come 'round?"

"It could be a while yet. We dont know how her body will treat the tranquilizer yet. All we know is what is in the file you grabbed off of her door."

"So Hydra took a seventeen-year-old girl for experimentation? Why?"

"We can't be sure yet. Once she wakes up I'm going to go in and talk to her. Maybe she knows. based on her housing situation though, i doubt we will get many answers from her."

"At least she is stable. The amount of tranquilizer you had in there would have worked on your average hydra soldier. It could have killed someone her size."

Five different voices float towards Anne as she starts to come to. As she listens to the voices she feels that she is on a bed. The bed was far more comfortable than the one back at the base. Anne had no idea where she was or who the people that were talking were. Slowly she opened her eyes to reveal a small white room. One of the walls was made entirely of glass. The glass also served as monitors. On the other side of the glass were five people. Two of them had been the intruders from the base. When they saw that Anne was awake the woman came in. She was in the same outfit from the invasion. She pulled up a metal chair next to the bed. It is only then that Anne realized that she was being restrained. Before any sort of emotion could register in her still slow moving brain the woman spoke.

"Hello. I am going to ask you a few questions and you will have to answer them as best you can. What is your name?"

"Anne Cooper." Anne responded. She did not know what exactly was going on but she thought it best to answer the questions for now.

"What is the last thing you remember?"

At this Anne hesitated a bit struggling to pull her muddled thoughts back together. "The last thing… I was… trying to climb… out… out the window… before I could… your… partner shot me… with an arrow…"

"Do you know where you were?"

This woman was hard to read. She was giving Anne nothing to judge her on. "I dont know where exactly, but I know it was a base for Hydra."

"What do you know of Hydra?"

"Um… they are a group of scientist mostly. They did have some very powerful members. They were exposed for the most part but clearly they are still around… And experimenting on people." Anne said the last part rather bitterly.

"Do you know what it is that they were trying to achieve with the experiments?"

Anne knew the answer to this but she did want to say it aloud. She didn't want to bring back all of those memories.

"Anne?" At this Anne looked away. Keeping her eyes down Anne answered "Hydra is trying to create super humans."

"What kind of experiments are they performing?"

"Injections mostly." Not wanting to get into any kind of detail Anne planned to keep her answers as short as possible.

"Did they have any success?"

Sighing Anne answered "Yes. There was only one successful case that I know of."

"And that case is?"

Finally raising her eyes again Anne looked the woman directly in the eye "I think you already know that." The woman made no show of whether or not she knew so Anne continued "Mine."

"In what way was it a success?"

"I now have enhanced dexterity and enhanced reflexes."

"What exactly does that mean?"

"It means that I now have better control over my muscles and can react faster to things."

"How do you know all of this?"

Anne laughed slightly at this question. It was so different from the others but she knew that they wanted to make sure that she was not one of them. "I know this because I read my file. A week or two ago there was an incident; I don't know exactly what happened but after the doctors had left the room two guards were supposed to take me back to my room. Before they could do that they were called off to take care of an emergency on one of the lower levels. I was left alone in the testing room. By lucky chance they had forgotten to tie me back to the chair. I took the chance and read through as much of the file as I could, but that was all that I got to."

"How do you feel about Hydra?"

"Hydra, to put it simply, is nothing but evil. They kidnapped me and experimented on me. I was kept in a room with no windows. All that I had was a bed and a toilet. I dont even know how long they have had me!" Anne spat out. On the wall behind to woman the heart monitor connected to Anne started pick up in speed. She was getting worked up and despite her powers such raw emotion was hard to control. After a moment of silence Anne took a deep breath and continued. "Hydra wasn't exactly happy with their results. It was something but it wasn't what they wanted."

At this point the woman sitting in the chair sat forward "What was it that they wanted?"

"Originally they wanted someone that could do something special, like manipulate matter or something. Even someone that just had super strength would have been good for them. They didn't get that from me. After they realized what they had achieved, they tried getting something different."

"What was that?"

"They wanted to make me the perfect human. They wanted to try and recreate the serum used to make Captain America."

"Thank you for your information." With that she stood and left the room. Anne was so shocked that it took her a moment to process what happened. Once she did she called after the woman "Wait, don't I get to at least know where I am know? Dont I get to know who kidnapped me this time?!"

…

After sitting alone for over an hour someone else entered the room. Anne looked up expecting to see the woman again but instead saw a man in front of her. He was tall, over six feet. He had blond hair and blue eyes. He looked at Anne very differently than the woman had. His eyes were kind but had a hint of sadness in them. To Anne he seemed mildly familiar. "Don't mind Nat," he said. "She was trained to interrogate. She isn't always that cold." He approached Anne and removed the restraints from her wrists and ankles. "Sorry about those. Coming from a Hydra base we had to make sure that you were not going to attack once you woke up."

Anne sat up and rubbed her wrist. Looking curiously at the man she asked "How do you know I'm not one of them?"

"You don't act like an agent. You don't have training to be able to go undercover. It takes more than three months." With that he sat on the chair that 'Nat' had left behind. Before Anne could work up the courage to ask him questions he started talking again. "Earlier you asked where you are; You are currently in the Avengers Tower. I wouldnt say that you were kidnapped seeing as you are no longer being restrained but you were taken in by Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton. I'm Steve Rogers. You are being watched over by Dr. Bruce Banner." At this information Anne's jaw dropped.

"So I am now in the same building as most of the Avengers talking to Captain America."

"Yeah, that just about sums it up" laughed Steve.

"Why?"

"It wouldn't have been right to just leave you at the base so Barton made the call decided to bring you in."

"But, why am I still here? Why didn't you just drop me off at a hospital? Do my parents know?"

"We couldn't take the risk of a potential threat being in the public where hydra could get their hands on you again. Your parents do not know about what has happened to you. Tony Stark had J.A.R.V.I.S. run you through his database and officials told your parents that you are dead. That was the work of Hydra." Steve sighed the last bit.

"But, can't we let them know that I am alive? I'm fine, they need to know!" by now tears had started brimming in her eyes.

Leaning forward with a look of pure sincerity in his eyes Steve explained "We can't let your family know about you. It would just put their lives in danger. They have already started to come to terms with what had happened to you. There was a funeral and everything."

"What am I going to do know?" Anne's voice was barely above a whisper as tears silently slid down her face.

Just as Steve opened his mouth to respond the door to the room opened again. "Captain, I can take it from here." It was a new woman speaking. She was tall and was wearing her dark hair in a bun. Steve stood up to leave. At the door he turned back "Don't worry Anne. We will figure this out." Then he left.

"Hi Anne, I'm Agent Hill with S.H.I.E.L.D. We have come to the conclusion that you are not working with Hydra so I have come to review your options with you. Unfortunately you will not be able to return to the life that you had before. As Captain said you would only endanger your family and friends if you were to contact them in anyway. From now on you will have to live without any contact to the people you used to know. You can join S.H.I.E.L.D., train, and become an agent. Or you can be put under surveillance and finish high school and make another decision from there."

"I only have two options?" Anne said.

"For now. You will be given more opportunities later down the line. I'm sorry that you have to deal with this. I can give you time to decide what to do. I will be in the building for the rest of today. I will need your answer before I leave tonight." With that Agent Hill stood and left the room leaving Anne to think over her very limited options.


	3. Chapter 3: The Choice

_**Author's Note: I finished writing this chapter at 11:40pm. I want to get the first five chapters done then I will probably slow down the update-rate. I will still try to write and update as much as I can. There will be romance for Anne in the future. Is there any MCU guy that you guys would like to see her with, I am open to suggestions because I am a little torn (love interest does not have to be in the fic yet I'm just asking because it will affect character development.) Don't get your hopes up for any ship in particular though because I have no idea where this is going. Thank you for the support!**_

Chapter 3: The Choice

Despite only having two options Anne still had a lot to think about. No matter what she chose she would be directly under the thumb of S.H.I.E.L.D. If she were to go directly into the agency then there would be plenty of people for to make connections with. All her life Anne had been taught to go to school, get a degree and do something with it. Now, however it seemed like no matter what road she took it would always come back to the same spot. Would it really be worth it for her to take the roundabout route if she were to only end in the same place? While thinking all of this over Anne got out of bed and started to walk around the small room. She examined the monitors and discovered that it was September 17. Her eighteenth birthday had been ten days ago. Now that she was of legal age they would probably make her live on her own. Hopefully they would cover her expenses but she would still have to cook and clean and do all of her school work without any help. Could she handle all of that on her own?

Sometime during her pondering Steve stopped by again. "Hey Anne, how are doing?" he asked as he leaned on the doorway. He looked like he was on his way back from the gym. He had a white shirt and black sweat pants on. He also had a towel around his neck and was covered in a layer of sweat.

"Alright, I guess." Anne said leaning against the wall. "It is just hard not-"

"Knowing anyone around you? Realizing that you will never see the people you care for again?"

"Yeah. I guess of anyone you would understand that." Anne sighed. "I don't know what to do. I'm barely even eighteen!"

"It sounds to me like you are thinking about this too much. If you have a choice just listen to your gut. Think about what you have always wanted and see if there is a way that you can get it with the options presented. I know that I haven't known you very long but I think I already know what you are going to decide. I know you will make the right choice."

"Thanks Captain Rogers. I hope I will." At that Steve laughed.

"Please, call me Steve." They exchanged a smile and he went on his way again.

…

After a few more hours Anne had finally come to a decision. She had yet to see Agent Hill again and made to leave the room. Just as she opened the door Anne heard a voice.

"Hello Miss Cooper. I am J.A.R.V.I.S., Mr. Stark's AI. Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Y-yes, I was going to find Agent Hill to tell her my decision."

"I have notified her that you are ready to ready to talk. She will be with you in a minute."

"Thank you, J.A.R.V.I.S." Anne slowly returned to the bed and sat on the edge. She started tapping her finger on her knee out of nerves. Agent Hill came into the room and sat on the chair now placed directly across from where Anne was sitting.

"I was told that you had made your decision."

Taking a deep breath Anne responded "Yes. I-I would like to continue my education."

"Nice choice. That's what I would have done too. You will stay in Avengers Tower until other arrangements can be made. I will let the director know of your decision." Agent Hill then left the room and passed by Tony Stark in the doorway. Tony was wearing a dark gray Led Zeppelin shirt accompanied by a pair of darker washed jeans.

"Hey kid. I got the memo that you will be staying here for a bit. Right now I'm having a room set up for you. Banner said that he finished running tests on your blood and vitals so you are all done here. Come with me and you can properly meet the rest of the team." He put his arm over Anne's shoulders, led her out of the room, and talked all the while. "Anne, that isn't a super common name anymore. Cooper… what is that? Scottish?" By now they had reached the elevator. They went down a few floors with Tony talking all the while "So you are eighteen? Congrats by the way. Sorry Barton and Romanoff didn't get there a few days earlier so you could have celebrated. We can have a party next week anyways. To be honest with you I don't think anyone that young has come into this tower. Maybe a few employees have occasionally brought their kids to work but no one has ever made a social call or stayed over night. Ah here we are. Follow me." Once the elevator arrived Tony lead the way along a new corridor to a common area where there were five people sitting. As Anne and Tony approached the group Tony's jabbering caught their attention.

Pointing to each person in turn Tony introduced them. First Tony pointed to a man that was of average height with wavy brown hair speckled with gray. He was wearing a dark blue button down shirt tucked into dark khaki pants with a brown belt. "This is Dr. Bruce Banner. He was the one making sure you didn't die or anything. Then Natasha Romanoff, whom you have already met." Natasha had the dark red hair, rather than wearing her dark, skin-tight suit, she was now wearing black leggings with a brown v- neck t-shirt. Pointing to the next person; the man with sandy hair from the invasion was wearing jeans and a red t-shirt "That is Clint Barton; the guy that shot you. And Steve, you guys chatted for a bit earlier." Steve had clearly showered after his workout and was now in a blue and white plaid shirt rolled up at the elbows and light beige pants. The final person was a tall woman with strawberry-blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. She had a pretty green scoop-neck shirt and cropped jeans on. "And that is Pepper Potts. She runs Stark Industries. And for future reference you can just call me Tony. Everyone this is Anne Cooper."

Bruce spoke up almost immediately, "Miss Cooper, tomorrow I would like to run some more tests. Most will be active tests to see your abilities in action. If you aren't feeling up to it we can postpone it. I think it would be better for you to just get it out of the way though."

"Oh, you can just call me Anne. I think I should be fine doing some tests tomorrow." Anne said with a nervous smile.

"So Anne, I take it that you like to read" Clint said rather dryly. Giggling Anne responded "Yes, I do. Sorry about your head by the way. I didn't know who you were and just wanted out of there."

"Wait, you are the reason that Barton has a concussion? Why was I not informed of this sooner? I need the full story now" an affronted Tony exclaimed.

Sighing Clint started to explain "First of all it is only a minor concussion. If you _must_ know I was checking the floor when I came to a guarded door. I took out the guard and picked the lock. There were no lights on in the room and she was hiding in the corner with an entire arsenal of heavy books. I was scanning the room for anything when it hit me. And before you start laughing even more it came from the side so I couldn't see it coming!"

Tony looked at Anne very seriously and said "What book did you throw at him? This is very important to me."

"I think it was one of the _Harry Potter_ books. It wasn't _Order of the Phoenix_ though." Anne laughed out.

"Thank God it wasn't _Order of the Phoenix._ That could have done some serious damage!" Clint spluttered. By now everyone was roaring with laughter. "I will get you back for this." Clint said pointing accusingly at Anne.

"Hey, I was acting in self defense!" Anne cried out.

"That doesn't matter. You are one of us now, so I will be exacting my revenge on you."

As the others continued to laugh Pepper stood and came up to Anne. "Your room should be ready now so I can bring you there." With that Anne and Pepper left as the others continued to make fun of Clint. Once they got to the elevator Pepper spoke again "Don't worry about getting along with everyone. For some reason this is a group that just gets along really well. I don't think that you will find it hard to fit in. You and Clint are already teasing each other."

"Yeah." Anne said quietly. They got off of the elevator and walked a little way down the hall. Pepper opened the door and led the way it. The room was painted a camel brown and there was a navy blue comforter on the queen sized bed. Some of the pillows were burlap and the others were navy and white. The other furniture pieces were white. There were some clothes on the bed.

"I took the liberty of getting some clothes for you. It is just some training clothes, pajamas and something you can wear when we go shopping. I didn't want to get too much in case you didn't want it. This way you will be able to pick out what you like yourself. I was thinking that if you are done with tests we could go on Wednesday. Today is Sunday, incase Tony had forgotten to let you know. To get to the bathroom you take a right out of your room and it is two doors down on the left. Everyone will be in the common room again by 7:30. We were all going to have dinner together tonight. It is just going to be pizza. You don't have to join if you don't want to but I think it would help you get to know everyone better. I hope to see you there."

"Thanks Pepper. For everything." Anne said with a grateful smile gracing her face. Pepper smiled back and left the room.

Anne looked at the clock on the bedside table; it was 6:30. An hour would be plenty of time for Anne to shower and put something on. She was still in the old shorts and tank that Hydra had given her. It would be nice to wear something different. Anne grabbed a pair of pink, workout shorts and a navy shirt as well as some fresh underwear and one of the sports bras, grateful that Pepper had thought of that too. Anne made her way down to the bathroom to finally start to wash away the grime of Hydra.

…

After a decent, but fairly short, shower Anne returned to her room. While she was out a hair brush and hair dryer had been put on the dresser. Anne stood in front of the mirror and brushed out her hair. It had been so long since she had had access to a mirror. Anne had been skinny to begin with but spending time with Hydra had caused her to lose what little weight she had. Before she really thought about her hair Anne decided it would be best to dry it and judge after that. Once her hair was sufficiently dried she studied her reflection. Her normally healthy skin had a grayish hue to it. Her dark ash blonde hair was long and scraggly. Her eyes were the same blue-green but there was something different about them, besides the large bags under them. It was like the light in them had gone out.

Anne was startled from her thoughts by a knock at the door. She made her way to the door and opened it. On the other side was Steve. He smiled when the door was opened. "Hey, I was just heading down to dinner. I was wondering if you were going to come down?" He explained.

"Yeah, is it already 7:30? I must have lost track of the time." Anne mumbled as she stepped out of her room. Together they made their way back to the elevator. Once in the elevator Anne put her hair in a bun in attempts to hide it. "To be honest I'm not sure I would have been able to get to the common room on my own. Thanks for showing up." Anne said smiling sheepishly.

"No problem" Steve laughed, "I had trouble finding my way around my first week or so here. JARVIS does help a lot though. He can get you anywhere that you need to go in the building."

"Oh, I didn't know you were staying here. How many of you guys are staying here?"

"Whenever we are in town we tend to stay here. Tony and Pepper are here most of the time. Same with Bruce. Nat and Clint each have their own rooms but they don't stay here very often, they are usually out on missions. I was staying in D.C. but after the events this past spring I left and have been staying here when I'm not on missions. Agent Hill has been working with Pepper at Stark Industries so she comes up here often. If you need anything I am in the same hall as you" By now they had arrived back at the common room where Pepper, Tony and Natasha were seated.

"Alright, now we are just waiting for Bruce and Clint before we start." Pepper said laying out the plates as Tony brought over the pizza.

"No _way_ are we waiting for those two. They will take forever with the concussion tests. Barton would one-hundred percent eat without us and Banner doesn't care. I'm starting now." With that Tony plopped onto one of the couches and filled his plate with pizza. Natasha dug in right away as well. Pepper gave the two of them an exasperated look then gave in "JARVIS please let Bruce and Clint know that Tony has started eating and there will be no food left if they don't get back soon. Steve, Anne, we should get some now or else the food _will_ be gone."

Anne looked at the selection of pizza before her there were six pizzas on the table each with different toppings. There was a cheese pizza, a pepper and onion pizza, hawaiian, pepperoni and sausage, barbeque chicken, and pesto pizza. Tony had grabbed a slice of each and Natasha had two different kinds on her plate. Steve was reaching to grab a slice of the cheese to accompany his slice of hawaiian. Pepper had one from the barbeque chicken pizza. Anne decided to start with a slice of pesto pizza and sat on the couch beside Steve an opposite Tony. Before she was halfway through her piece of pizza the door opened and Clint came running out.

"I can't believe you started without me! You all know how much I love pizza!"

"Relax Clint, there is still plenty of pizza here." Nat said. Without a second thought he grabbed three pieces and once and started eating them. Bruce had quietly entered after Clint and was examining the pizzas. After five seconds he had made his decision and sat in one of the arm chairs.

"So, Anne, what are your interests?" Tony asked through a mouthful of food. Anne was taken a little aback. She was not expecting to be questioned about herself so soon.

"Well, I sing, play the flute and I play the guitar. I cant do much with the guitar, only simple chord progressions. I also did some theater at my old high school. I pretty much focused on my school work. though"

"Yeah, we took a look at your grades from the past few years. You have pretty good grades. Have you thought about where you are going to apply to college?" Tony continued.

"Oh, I-I hadn't really thought about it." Anne answered confused.

"You are lucky that there are so many good schools in New York. I doubt SHIELD will want you going out of the city. You will be easy to keep an eye on here. What were you going to major in?"

"Tony." Pepper interrupted, "I'm sorry Anne. Most of the time he just doesn't know when to shut up."

"No, it's fine. To be perfectly honest after Hydra took me, I had lost hope of going to college so I don't have any idea on what I am going to major in or where I will be applying." Anne said honestly as she set her plate down on the glass table.

"I will have JARVIS compile a list of schools in the area and a list of majors that would be good based on your grades" Tony stated as he finished off his last piece of pizza.

"Thanks" was all that the bewildered Anne could say.

"So Bruce, have you started any new projects recently?" Pepper started loudly before Tony could continue. Anne didn't pay much attention to the conversation the rest of the night. She heard snip-its of what the others were saying but they didn't register with her. It was only when she heard her name being said that Anne came out of her thoughts again.

"What?" Anne said looking up.

"I was just suggesting that you go to bed. We will be starting tests at eight in the morning and I have a feeling that you could use some rest." Bruce repeated.

"Yeah, i can't say the last time I had a proper night's sleep" admitted Anne standing up. Natasha stood too, to Anne's surprise.

"I'm going to go up as well. I want some quiet time before going to bed." She then grabbed Anne's elbow and nearly dragged her out to the elevator. Just as the doors were closing Anne heard Pepper hissing "I knew you were stupid, Tony. Just not that stupid."

The elevator started to climb again and Natasha stood in front of Anne. Anne was taller than her by a few inches but that didn't stop the intimidating feeling that seemed to radiate off of Natasha in waves. "Look, don't mind anything Tony says. He doesn't have a filter. He may be a genius but he is really _really_ stupid."

"Yeah. I just haven't thought about any of this yet. I know that he didn't mean anything by it but I just… have a lot to think about I guess." The door opened and the two got off. They stopped outside of Anne's room again.

"This must all be strange for you, but you will get used to it all. Even Tony." With that she turned and went back to the elevator.

Anne went into her room. She got ready for bed and climbed between the sheets. Staring at the ceiling Anne thought about what her future was going to be like. As of now she was living with the Avengers which was pretty cool. She _did_ have a lot to think about with college though and she wasn't even enrolled in High school yet. It seemed as though everything was uncertain. Eventually Anne fell asleep while trying to plan her future. For the first time in three months Anne had hope again.


	4. Chapter 4: Adjusting

Chapter 4: Adjusting

Anne could feel the restraints on her arms and legs. No matter how much she struggled against them they would not loosen. All Anne could see was the chair she was sitting in. Nonetheless she knew exactly where she was. She was in the experimenting room at Hydra. Suddenly the light flickered on. A faceless man was before her. He was wearing white scrubs and and white lab coat. As he approached Anne felt her heart start to race. As soon as he was close enough Anne saw that he had a syringe. She had no idea what was in the syringe and it terrified her. There was a bodiless laugh that struck fear deep in Anne's soul. She opened her mouth to scream and beg for him to stop. It was then that Anne realized that she had been gagged so she couldn't make any sound. The panic rose in her chest. She could feel her heart racing. The man made to start the injection. There was no way for her to stop it. Just as the needle broke the skin of her arm Anne sat up.

Panting for breath she tried to get her bearings. She was not restrained and she was not with Hydra. Anne was in the Avengers tower. She was no longer being held against her will but she was starting to feel trapped despite the size of her room. She untangled her legs from the covers and stepped onto the cold floor. The contact made her shiver. Anne grabbed the blanket that had been resting on the end of her bed and wrapped it around her shoulders as she left the room. As quietly as she could, Anne made her way to the elevator, not wanting to wake Steve. When the doors closed behind her Anne spoke up, "JARVIS?"

"Yes Miss Cooper?" the AI responded.

"Is there somewhere I can get fresh air?"

"Yes," The elevator started moving back down towards the common room. "There are glass doors that lead from the common room to the landing pad. Do be careful out there though. It can get very windy."

"Thank you JARVIS" Anne said as the doors of the elevator opened to reveal the common room.

"You are welcome, Miss Cooper. Please let me know if there is anything else that you need."

The glass door was surprisingly easy to open. Anne felt the rush of cool air on her face. It was amazing to feel the wind in her hair. Anne just sat down against the wall to the building and wrapped the blanket tighter around her. There were no stars to be seen. That disappointed Anne a bit; she had always found the stars beautiful and fascinating. However, the lack of stars did not take away from the beauty of nighttime in New York. The lights of the city were pretty in a completely different way than the stars. It was nice to just sit and watch the lights. The fresh air was really what Anne had needed. The nightmare had been so real. The fear and panic were still working it's way out of her system. Just watching the city life, knowing that she was no longer in the hands of Hydra helped immensely.

…

After thirty minutes of Anne just sitting and staring out at the city she heard the door open. She immediately jumped up ready to defend herself or run. When the person came into view, she relaxed slightly. It was Tony Stark. He came over to her and offered one of the mugs he was holding. "Hey kiddo. I heard that you were up so I thought you might want something warm to drink."

"Yes, thank you." Anne breathed out. She hadn't realized how cool it had gotten; her pajamas were not doing much to keep her warm.

"I didn't know what you would like so I just made you some hot chocolate."

"This is great, hot chocolate is my favorite," Anne said cupping the mug in both of her hands. There was a generous amount of whipped cream on top of the hot chocolate. Anne took a sip and revelled in the taste of the thick, hot liquid. It was the best hot chocolate she had ever tasted. Tony grunted as he sat down next to where Anne had been. Anne sat back down in her previous spot and watched Tony over the top of her mug.

"So, why are you up at this hour?" Tony asked curiously.

"I… I had a nightmare." Anne answered now putting her focus on the hot chocolate. "How did you know I was up? And that I was here?"

"JARVIS told me."

"He did? I'm sorry. I didn't want to wake anyone." At this Tony just shrugged and took a sip of his drink. "I was already awake. JARVIS just gave me heads up."

"Why were you up?" Anne questioned sitting back.

"I get nightmares too. The past few years haven't been easy. I have gotten a grip on things recently but there are still times that I can't sleep. I usually end up working in the lab until Pepper finds me. Why did you decide to come outside anyways?"

"Well, I haven't been outside in three months. I just needed to feel the air on my face make sure that it was all real" Anne stated before taking another sip of her hot chocolate.

"You've got a little whipped cream on your nose" Tony pointed out. Anne quickly wiped it off.

"What time is it anyway?"

"Hold on" he said pulling out his phone to check the time. "It is almost four in the morning. You know, I don't usually pay much attention to the city but it looks pretty cool at night."

"Yeah. I wanted to look at the stars but there is too much light pollution. The city has it's own charm about it though." A tired Anne said.

"I've never really thought much about the stars. They are so far away and growing up in New York you don't see them much. New York is definitely a special place." Tony stopped abruptly when he felt a weight on his shoulder. Anne had fallen asleep. Tony just stayed where he was not wanting to wake the girl. She clearly had not had a proper night's sleep in a while. He wrapped the blanket tighter around her. Staring out at the city he thought about the future that the girl beside him could have had. Before long he too had fallen asleep. The two were discovered at six o'clock by Pepper. She gently shook Tony awake but allowed for him to wake Anne. The three headed back inside and watched the sunrise with another round of warm drinks. Pepper could tell that any comments Tony had made the night before were forgotten and that Anne and Tony had developed a special bond. The thought put a smile on Pepper's face. She knew that Anne needed someone and as much as he might deny it Tony needed someone too.

…

By the time eight o'clock rolled around Anne was ready and waiting for Bruce. At seven thirty JARVIS had informed her that she was to meet Bruce in the training room where they would run some tests. Anne was a little surprised that Bruce wasn't already there, he seemed like the kind of person to always be on time. As eight-o-five came around Anne heard something whizzing in the air behind her. She quickly turned and ducked out of the way of the projectile. Before Anne knew it things were flying at her from all directions. She was jumping, ducking and running like her life depended on it. She successfully dodged most of the items being thrown at her. After two minutes of the assault it all stopped. By now Anne was out of breath but she stayed on full alert. Bruce appeared at the end of the room with a tablet in his hand.

"What was that?" Anne panted out staring at Bruce with wide eyes.

"Sorry, but it was the best way to test your reflexes. The only way to get very accurate readings would be to do that or put you in a sparring match. I felt this would be a more fair test since you don't have any training." Bruce explained looking apologetic. "The good news is you were only hit be twelve of the projectiles, most of which no one would have been able to avoid."

"Where were they all coming from" gasped Anne.

"Last night I had the training room set up so that this portion appeared to be boxed in but there are areas around the walls that Steve, Natasha and Clint could throw things out. The training room is actually the entire floor. This is only a small portion of it. It also showed that you do in fact have incredible control of your muscles. Many of the objects that you avoided _should_ have hit you."

"Um, thanks"

"Now we can move into the other part of room." Bruce said leading the way, Anne followed him through a gap in the wall made of floor mats. When she emerged on the other side she was not surprised to see Steve, Natasha and Clint standing there watching her. Steve looked mildly impressed while Natasha's face was impassive. Clint was rather dumbstruck. As Anne examined the room it appeared to be an obstacle course. "Before we start the next test you can take a break. You might want some water." Bruce said pointing at a bench against the wall of the room. There was a pack of water bottles on the bench. Anne walked over and sat on the bench. She opened one of the water bottles and took a small sip. "That was just a warm up exercise, wasn't it?" Anne asked Bruce from the bench.

Bruce laughed slightly before responding "Yes. There is going to be a lot more where that came from. Don't worry though you shouldn't risk an injury. Plus there are four of us here in case anything does happen. Before we get to anything else big I want to run some simple tests. We have some makeshift balance beams of various heights and lengths setup. Would you walk along the lowest one?"

There was a moment of silence before Anne complied. She noticed that the lowest beam was under a foot off the ground. It was probably the shortest of the balance beams in length as well. Bruce addressed her again as she climbed onto the beam "Natasha will be timing you so wait for her go. Try to move along the beam as fast as you can without falling." Anne nodded her response.

"Ready? Go." Natasha said. It took Anne under five seconds to make it across the beam.

"Good. Pretty much what I was expecting from you. Now we can move up to the next level. As the height increases so does the length." This one was about two feet up and about twice the length of the first. Anne made quick work of this one as well completing it in under ten seconds. The next beam was only slightly longer than but it was now up at four and a half feet. It took her a second to ignore the height factor and just focus on the path ahead of her. It wasn't a fear of heights that she had, just a fear of falling. She wasn't even high enough to hurt herself if she fell. Anne knew that it was highly unlikely for her to fall given that her enhanced dexterity had improved he balance. The only way that she could fall was if an outside force were to knock her over. Each of the balance beams were completed with ease. The highest that they went was fifteen feet. Once Anne had reached the higher beams Steve was standing by incase something were to go wrong. There weren't any issues though. The longest balance beam stretched across the length of the room. It took Anne the same amount of time to cross the room on the floor as it did on the beam. By the time they had finished with all of the beams it was time for lunch.

Instead of going to the common room the five made their way to a different floor. On this floor there was a kitchen. Anne was tired by now and gratefully accepted when Steve offered to make her a sandwich. Luckily Tony was good at keeping drinks full of electrolytes stocked so Anne grabbed one in her favorite flavor. Once everyone had their lunch they started discussing the results from the tests that Anne had taken so far. As suspected all twelve of the projectiles that hit Anne had been thrown by Clint. Steve and Natasha had failed to hit their mark. It turns out that Natasha was impressed with Anne's ability to run full speed across a four inch wide platform.

"How are you feeling Anne? I don't want to push you too hard today." Bruce questioned after the results were done being discussed.

"I'm kind of tired, but it isn't anything I can't handle. All I really needed is to get some more food in my system."

"I was going to have you start the obstacle course, but I think that we might just have you go through each section separately. We will see how late that takes us."

"Ok, that sounds good to me." Anne said finishing off her sandwich.

…

The obstacle course was not very long. It had all of the basic elements to it; it started with a tire run followed by a couple of hurdles, then a cargo net up to a platform from which there was a fire pole going back down to the floor, next was a balance beam, then monkey bars, after there was the rope walk, finally ending with a crawl tunnel. Each part was easy by itself, except for the rope walk, even though there was a guide rope with it. Anne was timed and monitored on each section. After running through each part once Bruce decided to make have Anne run the course through all at once. He also thought it would be worth it to see how she fared going against Steve.

Anne immediately knew that there was very little chance of her winning a race against Captain America. He was faster than her and definitely stronger. Nevertheless Anne went along with it and raced Steve through the course. Anne did better in the tire run due to her smaller foot size. On the hurdles however, Steve was able to catch up. The cargo net was pretty close but tired Anne out quickly allowing for Steve to pull ahead. Steve blew through the balance beam and monkey bars. It was only at the rope walk that Anne was able to close some of the gap between them. Steve had to work slowly due to his size whereas Anne could easily make her way across. Unfortunately that was not enough for her to catch all of the way up. Steve crawled through the tunnel in no time finishing a good ten seconds before Anne.

Anne was winded after running through the whole course. During her time with Hydra, she had done very little moving. While she had been running she had not noticed how hard she was pushing herself. Once she stopped though it all caught up with her. Leaning forward with hands on her knees Anne tried to catch her breath. After closing her eyes for a moment Anne opened them to see a water bottle being held out to her. She looked up and saw that Steve was offering it to her. She took it and gulped the water down. By now Bruce had come over. After one look at Anne her his face morphed into a concerned one.

"Are you okay, Anne?" He said immediately. She nodded and held up a finger signaling she would respond in a moment. After a few more small sips of water she responded "Yeah, sorry. I just pushed myself harder than I realized. I'll be fine, I just need to rest for a bit." Bruce looked unconvinced.

"Why don't we call it there for the day. I have enough to work with for tonight. You can get some rest for tomorrow." With that he turned and left for the lab.

Anne plopped onto the floor and and tried to calm her heart rate. She hadn't exercised that much in a long time. She would have to learn to control her competitive edge.

"Hey, remember to never push yourself too hard. Bruce is just doing tests to see how we can help you. We don't want anything to happen to you." Steve said looking at Anne seriously.

"Yeah. It's just I don't know what my limits are now and during the race I wasn't paying attention to my body. I'm just going to have to test myself as we continue." Anne explained breathlessly.

"Alright then. Once you feel up to it you should shower. It will help you feel better."

"Yeah, I don't think I have ever been this sweaty before." Anne started to stand when Steve reached out a helping hand. He pulled Anne onto her feet and led her back to the elevator Anne stepped on. When Steve didn't follow her on she looked back at him curiously. Before she could voice her question the door closed and she went back to her floor.

After the shower Anne changed into another set of training clothes. There was nothing to do so Anne went back to the floor with the kitchen. It was around six in the evening and she was starving. She got off the elevator and saw that Clint, Natasha and Steve were there. Steve was standing by the refrigerator and Natasha and Clint were sitting at the island. Steve had just come from the gym but Clint and Natasha looked as if they had been in a meeting. Natasha was the first to notice Anne's approach.

"Nice work out there today. You are going to be sore tomorrow, though."

"Oh, yeah… I hadn't thought about that. Tomorrow is going to be brutal." Anne sighed searching through the fridge.

"If you are looking for any of the pizza, Clint ate it all at lunch." Natasha said.

"Hey, it's not like anyone else claimed it!" Clint exclaimed in defense of himself. Anne laughed and pulled out a gatorade. As she turned around Steve spoke up "I should probably go shower now. Tony has decided that as long as most of the team is around we will be having dinners together. I will see you all in a bit."

Anne turned to Natasha and Clint "So, you guys have team dinners?"

"Usually when we all get together it is when the world is in extreme danger so, I guess Tony is just trying to have fun before anything bad starts again." Clint shrugged. Just then the elevator arrived revealing a thrilled Tony with bags of Indian food. "Where is Capsicle?" He asked his face falling slightly.

"You just missed him; he went to go shower. He'll be back in less than ten minutes though." Natasha answered. Tony huffed and put the bags on the table. "I guess we can wait for him. Banner is on his way and Pepper is working late. I tried my best to get her to come but she said work was more important." As he was saying this he started to pull out plates and utensils from the cupboards.

"So, how did the testing go today?" Tony inquired the group in general. "Did you find anything weird and creepy about Anne here that she didn't tell us?"

"Bruce just wanted to test her abilities. We just did some basic training exercises to see what she could do." Natasha responded in a monotone voice.

"Darn, I was hoping she was going to sprout wings or something. Bruce! How is it to actually work with someone rather than just study the theory?" Bruce looked up surprised at the sudden question as he got off of the elevator.

"Well, it isn't like Anne is a guinea pig or anything. I am just trying to figure out what the extent of her abilities are." Bruce reiterated as if he had said this kind of thing to Tony all of the time.

"Banner, you actually are taking all of the fun out of this. Anne knows that it was just a joke. So, what do you have planned for our newest recruit tomorrow?"

"She is not a recruit, not yet any way. She has to pass several different tests before then." Natasha said rolling her eyes at Tony. Clint gave Anne an apologetic look before speaking up again "Why don't we stop talking about Anne like she can't hear everything we are saying. Unlike me, she isn't deaf."

At that Tony pulled her close putting his arm around her shoulder. "We weren't talking about Annie as if she wasn't here. We were openly discussing her future." He looked down at Anne addressing her this time, "You don't mind my calling you Annie do you?" She just kind of shrugged and gave a noncommittal sound all the while turning beet red. "Great!" Tony exclaimed giving Anne's shoulder another squeeze before letting her go. Just then Steve stepped out of the elevator.

As soon as Tony saw Steve he started to serve himself food. "You guys are going to love this place. I discovered it last year. It is really good. I didn't know what everyone would want so I got some of the spicier dishes as well as mild ones. Their rita is the best in the city."

Soon enough everyone had grabbed some of the food and they were all chatting. Tony was keeping an eye on the quiet Anne, doing his best not to let the others know that he already cared for her. In the meantime Anne was thinking that maybe, just _maybe_ she would be able to find somewhere that she fit in with this group. As diverse of a group they were personality wise it was clear that they were a family of some sort. With that thought a small smile formed on her face; a smile that didn't go unnoticed by Tony or Steve.

 _ **AN: Hey followers and readers! Sorry it took me so long to update. I really did mean to update the day after my last one. I got caught up in packing for college then I moved in. I am only going into my freshman year so I had orientation the past few days that kept me really busy. I named this chapter when I first started writing and didn't realize how much it would actually relate to my going off to college. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. If there is a lack of flow to it all I apologize; I wrote it a few paragraphs at at time whenever I had a free moment. Please review. I would like your feedback! I think I decided what way to take the romance but it probably wont come into play for a long time. Maybe not even in this fic. I'm not sure if there will be a sequel. Everything is pretty much in the air right now. Thanks for your support!**_


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